Social Progress Commercial

Rhetorical Analysis

1.With your partner, choose one commercial to analyze.

2. Watch the commercial several times to make sure you understand and catch all important
elements, including the purpose. Paste the link to the commercial in the space provided below.
3. Complete the chart below, analyzing the commercial’s rhetorical features and citing specific
evidence from the commercial to support your analysis.

Company: Airbnb Commercial Title and link: We Accept | Airbnb

Length of commercial: 0:30 Purpose (primary and secondary): Encourage diversity

Rhetorical Analysis of the Commercial

(Give specific examples in response to each set of questions)

Situation: What is the specific situation It shows how they will accept everyone no matter what
happening/existing in the commercial? they believe, who they are, or anything.

Audience: Who is the target audience?
Be as specific as possible (age, gender,
marital status, race, social class,
hobbies, etc.)
The target audience for this commercial was everyone.
Their entire commercial was about accepting everyone,
regarding their gender, race, age, sexuality, religion, or
appearance. They are saying that while these groups may
be discriminated against in other places, Airbnb will be
ready and willing to accept anyone and everyone.

Context/Exigence: What is the time
and place of this piece? What is
happening in the world? What was the
spark or catalyst that moved the
advertiser to create this commercial?
This commercial was made in 2017, the same year as
Trump's Inauguration. It was also the year of talk on
immigration and letting people get into America. This
commercial shows their stand on immigration, and how
they will accept anyone.

Tone: What is the overall attitude This commercial has a positive, happy, calming tone.
communicated by the commercial? Pushing the acceptance idea throughout the commercial.

Sounds: What words, sounds, music are There is nothing spoken throughout the commercial, but
used in the commercial? How are they there is a very calming and soft background tone. It does
used? Is the overall sound euphonious not have any jarring sounds, therefore pushing a calming
(pleasing) or cacophonous (jarring)? and positive tone.
Actors: Does the commercial use
human actors, animals, machines?
(invoked audience)
Setting: Is the setting realistic? Sci-fi or
fantasy? Present time? Past? Future?
Appeals to Ethos, Logos, Pathos: Give
examples. Why?
Choices: What are the rhetorical
choices made in the commercial? Think
about overall structure, devices, diction,
syntax, etc.
Overall, how effective was this
advertisement at achieving its purpose?
Both primary and secondary.
A diverse group of individuals. (Black women/man, old
people, gay people, Asian people, religious people, people
with glasses ect.)
The setting of the commercial is hard to tell because it only
shows zoomed in pictures of different people’s faces.
However it does give off a modern vibe.
They establish credibility because they are a well
established and well known company. They use pathos by
appealing to all ages and by using so many different people
who have unique background and lifestyles. Finally, logos is
used by establishing the fact that regardless of different
factors, everyone should be accepted and Airbnb is doing
just that.
Some of the choices made during the commercial is to start
by showing close ups of eyes and to zoom in really close on
the faces of the individuals with a slight shake in the
background. The close ups make the commercial more
human and the annoying shaking makes the pictures seem
alive. The words flashed on the screen give the commercial
more purpose and by using communal pronouns that refer
to the audience, it makes the viewer feel seen and
included. Lastly and most importantly, by using various
actors with different backgrounds and lifestyles assures
that everyone can relate with at least one of the displayed
faces.
The primary purpose of the commercial was to make
people rent out Airbnb and honestly I don’t think it did a
good job. If I didn’t have prior knowledge of what the
company was, I wouldn’t know what it was trying to sell or
how to buy it. On the other hand, it achieved its secondary
purpose to encourage inclusion because it used various
different people so that everyone would be able to connect
with the message and feel like they were welcomed at
Airbnb.